THE THIRD WORLD WAR began in April, 1944. The details
of an incident that then took place have not been disclosed. The
incident itself, even less dramatic than the dropping of a small bomb
on a Manchurian bridge, was hardly noticed behind the smoke of
clashing armies and the rubble of cities falling.

The few ships of the remnant of the Greek Navy, operating as a
unit under the British Mediterranean Command, were in harbor at
Alexandria. The Greek sailors, joined by some Greek soldiers sta-
tioned near by, mutinied. It was not a serious revolt, in either num-
bers or spirit. A few shots were fired, a few lives lost. The British
rounded up the mutineers and placed them, for a while, in concen-
tration camps. A few leaders were punished; but soon the trouble
was patched up and forgotten. It was recalled briefly by some when,
later, a short, bitter civil war broke out in Greece proper.

We do not know the details of what happened in the mutiny;
but the details, important as they may be for future scholars, are
unnecessary. We know enough to discover the political meaning of
what happened, and for this details are sometimes an obstacle. The
mutiny was led by members of an organization called ELAS. ELAS
was the military arm of a Greek political grouping called EAM.
EAM was a seemingly heterogeneous alliance of various Greeks
with various political and social views. But EAM was directed by
the Greek Communist Party. The Greek Communist Party, like all
communist parties, is a section of the international communist move-
ment. International communism is led, in all of its activities, from
its supreme headquarters within the Soviet Union.

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